


The Letter

by caomoyl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: HPFT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 06:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6505711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caomoyl/pseuds/caomoyl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Tuney, will you always love me no matter what? Will you promise not to hate me for what I am about to tell you?"</p><p>"I will always love you. You don’t need to worry. I just want to make sure you are okay."</p><p><img/><br/>Massive thank you to tea cup @ TDA for my amazing banner!!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Letter

The sun shone brightly in the blue sky; not a cloud was in sight. The fields were silent except for the sound of laughter coming from a young, red-headed girl who was running through the tall grass.

“Lily, slow down!” called an out of breath Petunia, a few feet behind her. 

Lily turned to look at her sister struggling to keep up, though she didn’t stop running. 

“What’s wrong, Tuney, can’t you keep up with me?” Lily laughed at her older sister’s attempts to make her stop. She was never going to, no matter how much she threatened to tell on her. It’s only running after all. 

“Lily, please, just slow down a bit, you know I can’t run as fast as you!” Petunia called out to her sister, trying to catch her breath a bit by slowing down. She wished she could run faster, just like Lily could. Lily always seemed to be able to do things better that her. 

“Catch me if you can!”

“Lily, just come back here and tell me what you have in your hand!”

Petunia was getting fed up now. All she wanted to know was what it was. What could have made Lily so happy?

“You can only see it if you can guess what it is,” Lily taunted. 

“How am I meant to know what it is? You won’t show me! And who was that woman who came to the house? Does she have something to do with the thing in your hand?”

“Shan’t say if you won’t guess!” 

“Lily, stop being stupid! I am not guessing! You will come here and tell me.”

That should make her stop. Petunia is the oldest. She has power over Lily. She’s always the one to look after her. Lily has to listen. She always does.

“Tough! Come and get me!”

Petunia couldn’t understand why Lily wouldn’t listen? Was it some big secret? Why couldn’t Petunia know? 

They were close to the lake now; there wasn’t anywhere Lily can go after that. Petunia would be able to catch her sister. 

Lily reached the edge of the lake and stuffed the letter into her pocket before pulling off her shoes and socks, rolling her trousers up and dipping her warm feet into the cool water. 

“Hurry up, Tuney, you are taking forever.”

Petunia reached the edge of the lake and sat down on the warm grass next to her sister.

“Aren’t you going to dip your feet in too? It’s really cool today. Nice after doing so much running.”

“No. I wouldn’t have had to run if you would have just slowed down, or even stopped.”

“Oh come on, Tuney. It was just a bit of fun. You do know what fun is, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. Don’t be stupid,” retorted Petunia, angry that Lily thought she is boring.

“Try having fun once in a while then! You might surprise yourself.”

Lily laughed as Petunia rolled her eyes and complied, putting her feet in the water too. As she did, Lily turned to stare across the water.

“Tuney, I need to tell you something.” Lily sounded thoughtful in her last statement. It wasn’t the normal fun filled voice she had been using previously. She sounded worried about something, about what she was going to tell Petunia. 

“Of course.”

“It’s about this letter,” started Lily, pulling the letter out of the pocket of her denim dungarees. 

“I finally get to know what you are hiding? I get to know who that woman was and why she was talking to you?”

“Yes. But you must promise not to be upset or mad or scared or anything. It’s not bad, it’s just … odd.”

“What do you mean? What is odd?”

Lily turned away from her sister and back across the lake. Eye contact was too hard whilst saying this, and seeing the reaction on her sister’s face would be hard enough later on, let alone when she first told her. 

“Lily?” Petunia said anxiously, “Lily, are you okay? Is something going on?”

“No. Tuney, will you always love me no matter what? Will you promise not to hate me for what I am about to tell you? Even if you don’t like it. Even if you think I am a freak. I just need to know that I always have you.”

“Of course. I promise. I will always love you. You don’t need to worry. I just want to make sure you are okay.”

Lily continued to stare out over the lake for a few more seconds before finally gaining the courage to look back at her sister. It didn’t matter what her reaction was now; Petunia was always going to love her.

“Tuney, I … I’m …”

“Spit out then,” laughed Petunia trying to ease the tension.

“I’m a witch. Sev wasn’t lying.”

Petunia stopped laughing and stared at Lily is shock. A witch? What is this rubbish? Why does she believe that idiot?

“Don’t be silly, Lily. There are no such thing as witches. That kid just has an overactive imagination. ”

Lily passed the letter over to Petunia who scrambled to open it quickly so she could see if Lily was lying to her.

“It’s all in there. Well, not an explanation, just where I am going to be going for the next seven years.”

“Seven?! You mean that I have to live without you for seven whole years?”

“No, the woman, Professor McGonagall, said that I can come home in the holidays, but I have to go to this school called Hogwarts and I get to learn magic! She said that it is so amazing and that I will love it there! And Sev is going too. I won’t be alone.”

“You really want to leave me for seven years and run off to a magic school with _him?_ ”

“He isn’t as bad as you think. He is really sweet. He is just not used to having people around him that actually like him.”

“He’s creepy, Lily.”

“Just leave it, Tuney. I get it, you don’t like him.” She turned back to stare across the lake. The sun was setting over the horizon casting a fiery glow across the land. “I just hope you can accept me for who I am and be happy for me.”

“I am happy for you,” replied Petunia, turning to look across the lake too. “I am always happy when you are happy.”

*****

Petunia came out of her daydream and looked back at the letter in her husband’s hands. A letter nearly identical to Lily’s. The letter that made the split between herself and Lily. The letter that, ultimately, was the reason she was killed. The letter that had ruined everything.


End file.
